Carbohydrates and mental health
There is a paucity of literature on this subject and no real robust clinical evidence in support of the use of low carbohydrate diets for treating mental illness. However, there is evidence that a low carbohydrate diet can reduce systemic inflammation and improve mitochondrial metabolism, both of which may be helpful in improving mental health and wellbeing.
High-sugar diets promote excessive, unnecessary inflammation inside the brain, triggering the release of various inflammatory cytokines Inflammation of this type is well established as a root cause of most symptoms in psychiatric and neurological diseases.
Another consideration, and related to inflammation, is insulin resistance. We know insulin resistance is a primary driving force in Alzheimers disease and that systemic inflammation is involved. The way that insulin resistance affects the brain is that the blood brain barrier actually becomes resistant to insulin- not glucose…. plenty of glucose still gets into the brain even if you have type 2 diabetes, but insulin will ferry the glucose around and gets it into cells. And the hippocampus which is responsible for a number of important processes such as memory is very sensitive to insulin deficits.
We know that people with depression are likely to have type 2 diabetes (37% in fact). And a recent study has reported that brain insulin resistance plays a role in symptoms of depression- the inability to find pleasure and reduced motivation- 2 key symptoms.
There are also recent studies suggesting that people with bipolar who are insulin resistant are more likely to be symptomatic and less likely to respond to medication. In fact, a 2019 study found that insulin resistance is present in more than half of all bipolar patients and is associated with a chronic course of illness, lack of response to mood stabilising treatment, cognitive impairment and poor functional outcomes. Also highlighted was that insulin resistance may modify the course of bipolar disorder and promote neuroprogression- so insulin resistance may be a testable and potentially modifiable risk factor for neuroprogression in bipolar disorder.
As mentioned there is evidence that low carbohydrate diets are shown to reduce inflammation. And now let’s explore ketogenic diet especially for those suffering severe symptoms.
Keto diets have been used to treat epilepsy for the last century and the ketone body acetone is believed to have anticonvulsant activity- the diet is also believed to have neuroprotective effects. Several studies indicate that a ketogenic diet may be as effective as anticonvulsant medications and lithium, which is pretty amazing as these drugs have terrible side effects.
Although research in this area is limited (why would pharma fund studies like this when drugs are so lucrative?) But there is a review ‘The Current Status of the Ketogenic Diet in Psychiatry’ by researchers at the University of Tasmania in Australia [Bostock et al 2017 Front Psychiatry 20(8), which brings us nicely up to date on all things ketogenic and mental health.
I’ll list a few key findings below.
2012: A case study of two women with bipolar II disorder who ate a ketogenic diet (one for two years, the other for three years) found that the diet was superior to the anticonvulsant/mood stabilizer lamotrigine (Lamictal) in management of symptoms. Ketosis was documented using urine test strips.
2009: A 12-month case study details the experience of a 70-year old overweight woman with chronic schizophrenia who was prescribed a diet limited to 20 grams of carbohydrate per day. She noted significant improvement in severe symptoms beginning only eight days after starting the diet, which consisted of “beef, poultry, ham, fish, green beans, tomatoes, diet drinks, and water.” She reported complete resolution of auditory and visual hallucinations, with which she’d suffered since age seven. Ketone levels were not monitored.
A rat study found that adding ketone supplements to a standard high-carbohydrate diet reduced anxious behaviour.
A rat study found that a ketogenic diet reduced depressive behaviours.A mouse study found that feeding pregnant animals a ketogenic diet reduced offspring susceptibility to depressed (and anxious) behaviours.
I have included a crude low carb eating plan that you may wish to try. But now let’s look at the benefits of magnesium on mental health.
Click here for a low carb eating plan
